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Discover America: Vast and varied culinary landscape

Brand USA’s tasty marketing strategy aims to boost tourism one dish at a time

A member of the American Chef Corps, California Chef Benjamin Ford, gives a demonstration in Hong Kong. He is one of 31 experts in cuisine practicing culinary diplomacy on behalf of Brand USA.

By Henry StancuStaff Reporter

Wed., July 2, 2014

One way to the world’s heart is through its stomach. That’s the thinking behind Brand USA’s Discover America campaign. The agency has launched a tasty marketing campaign inviting tourists from all corners of the globe to experience America “one dish at a time.”

With the involvement of 31 chefs from across the U.S., the national travel promotion organization has put together a 64-page recipe book highlighting the cuisine that represents the country’s six distinct culinary regions.

The recipes include entrees, soup, desert and beverages, and feature traditional fare such as Boston Clam Chowder, New Orleans Pecan Pie and Georgia Roasted Turkey, as well as lesser known dishes such as Texas Coffee Cured Brisket, Santa Fe Chocolate Chimayo Red Chile Soup and Seattle Huckleberry Black Pepper Tarts.

The recipe book is being distributed to target tourist markets through U.S. embassies around the world and it can also be accessed at the discoveramerica.com website.

The contributing chefs are members of The American Chef Corps, a network of specialists in the art of cooking from across the country who have served as the nation’s culinary ambassadors abroad since 2012.

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“There’s a lot more (to the U.S.A.) than cheeseburgers, French fries and hot dogs,” said Chef Benjamin Ford, author of Taming the Feast: A Field Guide to Adventurous Cooking, and owner of Ford’s Filling Station, a gastro-pub that’s been in business in Culver City, California, since 2006.

Ford’s recipe in Discover America’s collection of dishes is Burrata with Chickpea Pesto and Toasted Hazelnuts, and as he’s a huge fan of that California staple, avocado, it’s one of this recipe’s key ingredients.

In the Discover America recipe book, he stresses that hungry visitors to the U.S. Pacific region shouldn’t miss “anything with avocado.”

“I’ve tested a couple of the recipes in the book already and I know they’re good,” Ford said. “I think it’s a good reflection of all the regions of the United States.”

The chefs and their culinary creations represent the states and diverse cultural communities within the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, West and Pacific regions.

“There are so many compelling stories that represent the fabric of the country beyond the gateways and iconic places people know about,” said Chris Thompson, Brand America’s CEO. “There are culinary offerings that define cities in ways that are lesser known and there to discover all around the country.

“Chef Ford and the others are telling the story with their skills and passion for what they do.

“However you slice and dice it, food and dining experiences appeal to everybody, of all demographics and ages,” Thompson said.

Culinary diplomacy is one of the many ways Brand USA is putting out the message to the world that there is a lot more for tourists to discover than the places visitors know about from American movies and music.

Brand USA was created after President Barak Obama signed the Travel Promotions Act in 2010 to boost the country’s travel industry with the goal of attracting 100 million tourists to America by 2021.

The Act introduced a $14-charge levied against travellers from 38 Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries, including Canada, that participate in the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), which is a result of national security requirements of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007.

The bulk of the fee, $10, goes towards promoting the U.S. travel industry and $4 is levied by the federal customs and border protection services to cover administration costs.

Tourism in the U.S. accounts for 25 per cent of the nation’s economy. Last year, 70 million visitors to the U.S. spent $181 million.

Reaching the president’s 2021 goal is a challenging one.

“It’s achievable, but we’re going to have to be strategic in how we do it and engage our stakeholders, both buyers and suppliers,” said Thompson. “We certainly have a great share in Canada, so our challenge is to grow that share.”

Brand USA is today active in 10 markets that include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and the U.K. and they will be attracting business in more than a dozen other nations as the campaign moves on.

Canada is the U.S.A.’s No. 1 market in both volume of tourists and spending. Although Brazil and China are the fastest growing U.S. tourist markets, the combined number of travellers from those two countries from 2012 to 2013 was 600,000, while 690,000 Canadians made trips south of the border during that period.

Although cross-border shopping, snowbird vacation trips south and the mutual 8,891-km. border are big factors in this, Brand U.S.A. isn’t taking the Canadian market for granted, and they are banking on future business of Canadians travelling to the U.S.

Brand U.S.A. is looking for even more growth in the number of Canadian travellers heading south by aiming to attract them to U.S. destinations most have not visited, or thought to visit.

“It’s about changing the mentality of the Canadian that thinks it’s just about getting into a Winnebago and travelling from Montreal to south Florida,” said Alfredo Gonzalez, senior marketing vice-president with Brand USA. “For a long time, our markets were secluded, so we had our west coast with Las Vegas, we had our markets in the south and we had our shopping market in the northeast.”

Gonzalez said Brand USA’s goal is to get Canadians, along with the rest of the world, to consider a variety of U.S. destinations and avoid them thinking, “I’ve been to Florida so many times, maybe we should go to Europe next time.”

The same goes for attracting tourists from within the U.S. to spend their travel dollars at home rather than have them thinking “been there, done that.”

“We as Americans are guilty of taking our own country for granted,” said Thompson.

“Personally, I’ve been to the places I’ve gone before where I’m most comfortable, so I’m challenging myself to be courageous by going to states, cities and communities that represent the fabric of the rest of the country, where there are so many compelling stories about our culture.”

“And there are so many Canadians in the same boat. We’re both comfortable with what’s just across the border and so we challenge everyone to go beyond that comfort zone and discover the other parts,” he said.

“Although our tag line is ‘Discover the land like never before!’, I’m changing the first word in this case to say, ‘Let’s re-discover America like never before!”

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